Search

a baby’s nurse, especially a wet nurse.
a female servant; maid.
Historical Examples

It’s very convenient that you should always be within earshot when you’re wanted, amah.
East of Suez William Somerset Maugham

Then he makes up his mind the best thing is to leave Daisy with the amah.
East of Suez William Somerset Maugham

“I was talking with my amah—she is the girl who cares for our children,” said Mrs. Worley.
Flash-lights from the Seven Seas William L. Stidger

I told you I wouldn’t have your disgusting pipe in here, amah.
East of Suez William Somerset Maugham

The amah shouldered the steaming buckets and splashed across the bare boards of the ancestral hall beyond.
The Best Short Stories of 1919 Various

I’ve never seen anyone let an amah behave as you let her behave.
East of Suez William Somerset Maugham

To be sure, he slept a great deal, or the amah would have been obliged to hand him over to a younger woman.
The Little Girl Lost Eleanor Raper

It was very easy for him to get into the room after amah and I went away.
East of Suez William Somerset Maugham

The amah waxed voluble and attacked Little Willie with the family umbrella.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, Jan. 15, 1919 Various

The other day our amah told Leonard and me to chatter our teeth three times and blow.
Peeps Into China E. C. Phillips

noun
(in the East, esp formerly) a nurse or maidservant, esp one of Chinese origin Compare ayah
n.

“wet-nurse,” 1839, Anglo-Indian, from Portuguese ama “nurse,” from Medieval Latin amma “mother,” from PIE root *am-, forming nursery words.